Hannity Rips Cuomo on Hydrofracking, Unemployment

A high-profile conservative commentator took to his national radio show yesterday to knock Gov. Andrew Cuomo, criticizing the Democrat for his inaction on hydrofracking and the state’s unemployment rate.

Calling him a “prisoner of the left wing in New York,” Hannity knocked Cuomo for not doing “the one thing that would actually create jobs.”

“Cuomo says, ‘Ah, we’ve got to study the issue (fracking). We’ve got to study the issue.’ It’s been his position for two years,” Hannity said. “Meanwhile, unemployment goes up every week and taxes keep going up in New York.”

(Unemployment actually hasn’t been going up “every week” in New York — it dropped by 0.4 percent in November — though the state’s 8.3 percent rate remains above the national average. Cuomo’s office is also quick to point out that a December 2011 law decreased income taxes on the middle class, though top earners are paying more than what had been set to take effect in 2012.)

New York first launched an environmental review of large-scale hydrofracking in 2008, and a decision on whether to allow it to move forward still hasn’t been reached.

Hannity also took issue with Cuomo’s presidential prospects. The governor is often mentioned as a potential Democratic candidate in 2016.

“Now Andrew Cuomo is the governor of New York. Often his name is touted as somebody who wants to run for president in four years,” Hannity said. “New York state, the only state in the union where unemployment keeps going up. It’s not exactly the kind of record you want to run on for the White House — and Cuomo does want to run. It’s obvious in everything he does and every decision that he’s making.”

More Hannity on Cuomo:

“So he remains a prisoner of the left wing in New York and that means the teachers unions, health workers unions, the radical environmentalists in New York. And because of that, Cuomo won’t do the one thing that would actually create jobs. As a matter of fact, it’s the answer to all of our financial problems.”

(AP Photo)

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